Fathom Blue #3

   Every self-respecting comic book company needs a super-team (or two or three), and that's the goal with Apsen's Fathom Blue.

   It's a team gathered by the U.S. Government (I think) to fight back against any deep-sea menaces, such as those posed by the powerhouse members of the race known as The Blue.

   The team bristles when a threat appears - but their leader, Elia Fawn (a sympathetic but tough member of The Blue), goes to face the threat alone.

   The art by Claudio Avella, Chaz Riggs, Gabe Carrasco and Mark Roslan is very good - attractive, with solid character designs and strong layouts.

   But the story by Vince Hernandez doesn't give the art team much room to shine. Half the book is given over to lots of standing around and talking, and the action sequence is just ok.

   For a team to work, there needs to be strong interaction - characters the reader can root for (or against), and they need to be distinctive. There's not much effort made to bring new readers up to speed or to explain who the characters are.

   I hate the old "group splash page with each character labeled" trick, but it would come in handy with a team filled with (mostly) new characters.

Grade: B-

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